Sand And Gravel

Sand-gravel operator appeals restrictions on expansionThe owner of a sand and gravel operation near Crofton is appealing a county decision that restricts expansion on the 184-acre site.The Board of Appeals has scheduled a public hearing for Wednesday, Dec. 9, in the County Council chambers at the Arundel Center in Annapolis.The owners of Cunningham Sand and Gravel, located near the intersection of routes 3 and 424, already have received conditional approval to expand the existing operation on the site.

A Davidsonville gravel mine will remain open, even though county officials say the owner violated Anne Arundel zoning laws.An administrative hearing officer earlier this month granted James E. Cunningham a special exception to continue operating a 44-acre sand and gravel mine on Patuxent River Road, about a quarter mile southwest of Queen Anne Bridge Road.BTC The county Board of Appeals first approved mining on the agriculturally zoned property four years ago. But the board restricted the operation, requiring a fence and other buffers between the mine and four nearby homes.

Dissatisfied with the way state environmental inspectors regulated rubble landfills, the County Council passed a tough temporary law two years ago authorizing daily county inspections.That ordinance expires this month, and a recent court decision will force the county toabandon any hope of making daily rubble landfill inspections permanent, said Councilwoman Virginia P. Clagett, the West River Democrat who has led the crackdown on rubble and sand and gravel operations.In a recent decision involving a Harford County facility, the courts ruled that only the state has power to permit and inspect rubble landfills, Clagett said.

David Dauses, a sand and gravel company sales manager who volunteered for years as a coach and umpire in youth basketball and baseball in Baltimore and Annapolis, died Jan. 23 when his car was struck from behind by a truck in the Harbor Tunnel. He was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.Services for Mr. Dauses, who was 36, were held Jan. 27 at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Towson.Mr. Dauses was born and lived in Parkville until he moved to Annapolis in 1987.Mr. Dauses is survived by his wife, Deborah Dauses of Annapolis; three children, Ginny, David Jr. and Bradley, all of Annapolis; his parents, George and Margaret Dauses, of Solomons Island; and many nieces and nephews.

A sand and gravel company has sued the county and the County Councilfor blocking its efforts to develop a rubble fill at its Joppa site.The suit, filed Thursday by Harford Sands Inc. of Joppa, is similar to one filed June 20 by Maryland Reclamation Associates Inc. over new laws that set strict standards for rubble fills proposed for the county.Harford Sands and Maryland Reclamation are asking Harford CircuitCourt to overturn the laws."The defendants have been engaged in a continuing unlawful scheme and an illegal concerted course of action performed in bad taste . . . for the purpose of damaging (Maryland Reclamation)

Even if you haven't paid your Harford property taxes yet, you still have time to earn a 1 percent discount.County Treasurer James M. Jewell said the discount, offered every year as an incentive to get property taxes paid early, is available through Aug. 31."September's what we call a break-even month, where you just pay the amount on your property tax bill," said Jewell. "But in October, if you haven't paid your property tax, it's considered delinquent andthe interest fines start kicking in."

Two County Council members will try to make life easier for Anne Arundel's sand and gravel operators tonight.Councilman David G. Boschert, D-Crownsville, will resurrect a proposal limiting inspection fees to be paid by sand and gravel operators. Councilwoman Diane R. Evans, R-Arnold, plans to introduce an amendment allowing excavators to sell their product on Saturdays.Citizens have opposed Saturday sales at several previous hearingson a tough new bill regulating the sand and gravel industry, sponsored by Council chairwoman Virginia P. Clagett, D-West River.

Members of the sand and gravel industry walked away disappointed Monday night after the County Council refused to substantially soften a bill regulating their business.Though council members complied with the industry's request to begin operations at 6 a.m., they approved more restrictive noise controls and refused to permit rock-crushingequipment in agricultural/residential zones."We got the earlier hours, but the industry is able to operate around the clock right now as long as we don't disturb the neighbors," said William Natter, president of Natter Services Inc., an Annapolis sand and gravel firm.

Harford Sands Inc., a Joppa sand and gravel mining company, is one step away from getting a new state operating permit that will allow the company to correct discharge violations at its facility.The Department of the Environment announced Thursday that it will grant changes to Harford Sands' 5-year-old permit, pending appeals by any opponents to the company's plans.The modifications to the permit allow Harford Sands to relocate adischarge outlet that the company says was put in the wrong place under the terms of its 1986 permit.

A Joppa sand and gravel mining company, fined $16,500 by the state for polluting a Gunpowder River tributary, has asked in Harford Circuit Court that the fines be dropped.State Department of the Environment officials, who have been attempting for two years to force the company, Harford Sands Inc., to rectify sediment pollution from the company site, say the request should be denied.They cite Harford Sands' record of shirking state orders to control the runoff."In my experience, Harford Sands will go down in mymemory banks as a company that is almost Neanderthal in its apparentattitude concerning environmental laws," said Timmerman T. Daugherty, who prepared the DOE's final order in the case.